Nikola Jokić had a rare awful shooting night in Game 3, but it finally didn’t matter for the Nuggets

For most of the Nikola Jokić era, the Nuggets‘ path to success hinged on the three-time MVP putting up near-historic numbers on a nightly basis. He averages near a triple-double most seasons, not only because he’s absurdly talented, but also because the Nuggets depend on his every bucket, assist and rebound. When he has an off night, the Nuggets usually lose the game.

His on/off numbers regularly tell the story of a player who has to play practically every minute of the game, otherwise the offense is going to crater. This season, the Nuggets score 22.4 more points per 100 possessions when Jokić is on the floor than when he sits, which is the highest differential of his career. So basically, when Jokić is on the bench, the Nuggets regularly fail to generate offense. When he’s on the floor, they play like a championship-contending team.

But Friday night was a different story. Jokić put up 20 points — not bad — but it was on an appalling 8 of 25 from the floor. It’s an eyebrow raising stat for the Serbian big man who routinely shoots at minimum 50% from the field. He went 0 of 10 on 3s Friday night and, if you were just looking at the box score, you would expect the Nuggets to have lost that game. After all, there’s a mountain of receipts that point in that direction. 

Well, the Nuggets decided to buck history in Game 3 of their second-round playoff series against the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder. On a night where Jokić had one of the worst shooting performances of his career, his teammates stepped up to guide Denver to a 113-104 overtime win to earn a 2-1 series lead.

“Our team right now, and I mean it, they’re picking each other up man by man,” Nuggets coach David Adelman said after the game. “Different people played tonight. We threw Zeke [Nnaji] out there, he had good energy. Again, the stats don’t matter. Peyton Watson had great energy. We just need whatever man we put on the court to give us that, and give it for the guy next to you. And if you do that, you stay in games.”

Jamal Murray was the head of the snake, especially down the stretch. He finished with 27 points and eight assists, and had three crucial plays in overtime where he came away with a steal, finished a layup immediately on the other end, then turned around and corralled another steal to limit the Thunder’s opportunity to close the gap. 

Murray’s takeover was reminiscent of his first-round performance against the Clippers, where he had 43 points on a night where Jokić again struggled, putting up only 13 points. The Nuggets won that game, too, but Denver didn’t need the same heroics from Murray Friday night thanks to Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr., who finished with 22 and 21 points, respectively.

Gordon, specifically, had another clutch shot down the stretch of the game. His 3-pointer with just about 30 seconds left in the fourth quarter ended up sending the game to overtime.

It was the second time this series that Gordon has hit a crucial 3-pointer to either tie or win the game, extending his streak of impressive playoff performances for the Nuggets.

Porter Jr., had without a doubt his best performance of this postseason, knocking down 5 of 6 3-pointers, shaking off a left shoulder injury he’s been dealing with for weeks. Porter Jr.’s 3-point shooting kept the Nuggets in the game early, and then in overtime he hit a triple that extended Denver’s lead to five points, overwhelming an OKC team that couldn’t find its footing.

It was just the fifth time in franchise history that four different Nuggets — in this case, Jokić, Murray, Gordon and Porter Jr. — each scored at least 20 points in a playoff game. That specific foursome has now accomplished the feat twice.

To be clear, Jokić struggled to score, but he was still impacting the game in other ways. He was setting up his teammates, feeding the likes of Gordon under the rim, kicking it to Porter on the 3-point line, plus he grabbed 16 rebounds. Even when he’s having an off shooting night, he still attracts so much attention that it opens up opportunities for his teammates, and tonight they took advantage of that.

“The bottom line is [Jokić], just keep shooting the ball,” Adelman said. “The ball is coming to him regardless of the results or the efficiency that night. And I’m sure he’s frustrated. When you’re that efficient — maybe, arguably one of the most efficient players to ever play any sport — yeah I get it. I get why he’s frustrated. But Game 4’s gonna come, and he’s gonna touch it a million times. I hope he shoots it all the time. He’s gonna make plays for other people, his defensive rebounding was really impactful. So, yeah, Nikola is Nikola.”

It was really a missed opportunity for the Thunder to take advantage of a night where Jokić shot the ball so poorly, because he rarely has multiple games like that in a row. Jokić is bound to come out in Game 4 on a mission to find his rhythm offensively, which makes it even more significant that the Nuggets were able to pull this one out with him struggling so heavily. That hasn’t always been the case — in fact it rarely has been. 

Is it sustainable? That remains to be seen. But we’ve now watched it unfold in each round of the playoffs — the other guys, whether that’s Murray putting the whole team on his back or collectively guys like Gordon and Porter Jr. chipping in, are capable of picking up the slack when Jokić is having an off night. It doesn’t happen often, but Friday night was a rare example proving that even if he does, there’s still a path for the Nuggets to pull out a win.